Its Been A Really Long Time...

Hello, everyone!

I haven't really posted more than one or two blog posts this past semester.  The truth is, I haven't really had much to say!  I've been too busy actually enjoying my life and having a great time of it to actually sit down and take the time to share.  So, here is an overview of important things that have happened this semester:

• Straight As!  Whoo hoo!!!
• Internship at The Arbors has been going well!  I'll be ready when I get back for next semester to pick up the pace a little and continue making my time there as awesome as possible.
• Making leaps and bounds through the Netflix queue.  Since Netflix split up its plan with the price increases, I've been subscribed online to the stream online plan.  Once I watch everything I can get through instant streaming, I'll switch to the physical disc mailing plan.  My most recent love has been How I Met Your Mother.  Words cannot describe...
• Grocery shopping and paying bills worked out awesome with my refund from the school up until the last 3 weeks.  I'll need to rethink that for next time.. Haha!
• Ryan and I are still going strong!  We sailed through our 5, 6, 7, and 8 month anniversaries.  April 5th of 2012 will mark our 1 year as an official couple!  YEEAHHHH!!!
• I bought fish!  I started off the summer with 5 guppies.  One died from the stress of the transfer from the store to my tank.  Then there were 4: Cappie (the only one with visible distinguishable marks), and "The Supremes" (the other 3 look-alikes).  Unfortunately now we're down to only two of the Supremes left (whom I have now dubbed Killer and Donna).  **Note, all my guppies were males--however, you have to admit that Cappie and The Supremes is kind of catchy...**  AND the newest addition to the family is a beta named Emmett.  He has his own tank and his own life, and I think that makes him happy.
• Space (my car) has thrived and deteriorated and thrived again!  We're hanging in the balance at around 160,000 miles.  We have winter tires but no snow....and we have oil and antifreeze that remains within the inner workings of the vehicle.  Win for all involved.
• Excellent drunken house parties have occurred: the very realistic Prohibition 1920s Speakeasy (where many of the attendees were underage [of course, this is college] so we all hid in the basement to manage the noise levels-good times), the famous Mustache party (yep-you guessed it. Mustache mandatory for attendance), ALL of Halloween weekend (3 parties in 2 days-not bad!), the quietish Christmas party between close Burlington-bound people in my life, and of course the other various nights that involved going to bars or staying in and mixing fun drinks by ourselves!
• Very few stressful nights worrying about homework and how I'm going to manage all of my classwork plus life in general.  4 classes per semester is PERFECT!  I'm so glad I put in all my hard times my Freshman/Sophomore years.  Senior year is a breeze so far, and I'm loving every second of it!  Sure there have been a few downs or hiccups in the general flow of things, but speaking overall, this has really been my best semester at Champlain so far.
• Oh, and I totally taught myself how to knit over Thanksgiving break via YouTube videos.  Oh yeah.  New life skills FOR THE WIN!

I'm so happy that this year has been going so well.  I can't imagine what this year would have been like with a schedule like my Spring semester of Sophomore year.  (That was when I broke up with Luke, was managing a 12 hr/wk unpaid internship, working as a Peer Advisor for as many hours/wk as was necessary, as well as working ~10hrs/wk for my mandatory work-study hours so I could have a paycheck).  I really wasn't sure I was going to make it that semester.  BUT-I did, and I'm stronger for it.  

I'm proud of myself for all I have accomplished so far.  I work damn hard and I deserve a lot of respect for all I do.  What is next on my list is to start applying for grad schools:  Boston University, Springfield College, University of Vermont, University of New Hampshire.  I'm working on getting all of my required application materials together over this break, and sending them out quite soon once I return to Burlington/Winooski.  

Lastly: I have been a busy beaver over break.  I got home on Friday evening, and it is now Tuesday.  In this time, my mother and I have switched bedrooms.  I'm enjoying being home SO much more.  I don't feel so depressed and aimless as I thought I would.  A big project like this is just what I needed to keep myself busy and motivated.  I seriously got rid of about 5 bags of garbage, and donated another 5 or so to the Salvation Army.  The reason for this is that my old room was about 1/2 the size of the basement (about 1/4 of the entire house).  I moved from this big room to my moms normal-sized bedroom that actually has windows!  She moved into the bigger room.  Therefore, I needed to really focus on getting rid of a lot of my old stuff so that it would all fit into this new, smaller, more manageable room.  I cleaned out everything: stuff from past boyfriends that have been sitting or buried in my room, things I haven't touched or worried about in years, stuff I thought I would definitely need/use but never got around to, and even some stuff I had been emotionally attached to.  However, it was time to let it all go, to let it be free.  While I may still have another bag or two of trash to take out, I feel great!  Cleansed.  Like I'm getting rid of everything so that whatever comes after Champlain will have room to take hold and lead me to where I'm supposed to be-without leaving too much behind.  So far both my mother and I seem happy with the trade.

Well, this wraps everything up rather nicely from the past 4 months of my life.  I feel like I need to find a new purpose for blogging again.  I wish I could be as dedicated as other folks in writing a fabulous blog-stuff other people actually care about instead of something that looks like a journal of my life.  I will gladly accept any and all blogging ideas and suggestions below.  Tell me what you'd most want to hear/learn about!  If it is something that lines up well with my interests or knowledge and expertise, I will try to move the blog in that direction--and work on posting more frequently.  :)

Auf Wiedersehen!

It's Been A While

Hello, everyone!

So, with my laptop finally back in my possession, life is good again.  As of Friday I will be totally ALL caught up on my homework, and I'll be in a good place.

Speaking of Friday, our beloved Eden is coming from 4 hours away at PSU to stay here in Burlington with Ryan and I for the weekend!  This is the first time she'll have been able to see the UVM/Champlain campuses (campii?) from the Meg Ryan point of view.  It is going to be spectacular.  :)

In other news, I've been very gluttonous the past few days.  It sucks.  I need to kick it up a notch.  I was treated by Res Life to an amazing dinner at the Olive Garden last night, and I ate soooo much.  And Ryan got me a bag of Lindor Milk Chocolate truffles....which are mostly gone.  So...needless to say...I should maybe do some crunches tonight?!  I need to lose this weight!!! Even if I have to find a way to shake and shimmy every night for an hour or so!

Another factoid of my life: I may or may not be able to get a car over Spring Break.  So, here's the deal.  My 21st birthday falls on Spring Break from college.  This year (along with receiving the legal right to drink alcohol,) my mother was planning to get me my first car EVER!!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!  BUT-this is all dependant on when she gets her Federal Tax Refund back.  She sent her forms out about 2 weeks ago, and they JUST got there the day before last.  Um...what?  Post office fail or federal government fail?  Maybe both.  They're the same thing, really. 

Soooo...here's my deal.  I thought I would finally have the chance to feel like I'm on equal footing (or tires?) with everyone else my age.  I've been driving my mothers car since I was 15.  It's really hard to hear other kids saying "Oh, let's just take my car" as if it's no big deal for 6 years.  It gets old after a while.  It shouldn't be such a touchy subject, but for those who don't have something that everyone else takes for granted...it's frustrating. 

Having a car is something that Vermont kids (especially) place a lot of value on.  Having your first car means you can finally have freedom.  Because it takes at LEAST a 15 minute drive to get anywhere worthwhile in VT, if you don't have a car, you're pretty much stuck.  I'm so sick of having to depend on other people's schedules and moods to determine whether or not I get to go somewhere.  I've dealt with it for 21 years of my life, the past 6 of which have felt extremely long.  I want to be a normal person with a car!  I would like to not have to depend on stupid bus schedules or mooch off friends for rides to the grocery store!  I would like to not have to barter with my mother during my breaks from school about if she has to work tomorrow, and if I can borrow her car. 

Long story short...this has been a long time coming.  I feel like a donkey with a carrot being dangled in my face.  The federal government better get their $H!T together and hurry up with my mother's refund so I can stop feeling like an inadequate college student.  Please and thank you.

(One vehicle my mom told me about was for sale in W. Rutland or somesuchplace.  It's a black Saturn Vue.  My mom currently has a blue one, but black works for me too!  We're looking into getting a standard because I have so much fun driving a stick shift.  Here's what one will potentially look like:)

Cute, right?  :)

I'm going to do my best to be patient.  I mean, even if I don't get the vehicle (which I really hope I do...otherwise some other plans of mine might be a little screwed...) I can still do this:

FYI...my mother has plans to get me drunk.  It's been a plan in motion since I was 9.  :)

SO-I hope this catches you up to where I'm at in life.  I have missed Blogger!  It feels good to write this out of my system.  <3

Until next time...
May the road rise to meet you (but not too quickly...)
XOXO
-Megan